Friday, November 21, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Ignoring Aksyonov, US Moves to Adopt Non-Recognition Law on Crimea

Paul
Goble

Staunton, November 21 – Sergey Aksyonov,
head of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea, says that the
international community will recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation
after US President Barack Obama leaves office, a statement that underscores the
need for a formal non-recognition policy on the part of Western governments.

An important
step was taken in that direction when the Committee on Foreign Affairs
yesterday unanimously passed HR 5121, “The Crimea Annexation Non-Recognition
Act” (gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr5241ih/pdf/BILLS-113hr5241ih.pdf).
Drafted by Representatives Gerald E.
Connolly (D-VA) and Steve Chabot (R-OH), the measure prohibits
US federal agencies from “taking any action that recognizes or implies
recognition of the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Crimea, its
airspace, or its territorial waters.”

Modeled on US non-recognition policy regarding
the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and based on the Stimson
Doctrine holds that the United States will never recognize any territorial
changes achieved by force alone, this measure provides a direction for other
countries in the West to follow.

Just
as Baltic non-recognition policy underlined the illegitimacy of Soviet
occupation of the Baltic countries and encouraged their peoples to believe that
they would one day recover de facto their status as independent states which
they did in 1991, so too the new law, if passed, could have the same effect for
Crimea.

In his TASS interview, Aksyonov also
said that “all the anti-Russian policy of the last two or three years” will
disappear with Obama’s exit from office, something he said could be accelerated
by the organization of Russian compatriots in the US. He urged that Russia’s
oligarchs should create a foundation to organize movements among them.